The teams took to the pitch in conditions which would have seen even Mary Poppins leave her umbrella at home, the beginnings of Storm Gareth blowing across the pitch and favouring neither team.
The first quarter started with high intensity, both teams playing at full tilt. Petersfield forays into the 22 were stopped by Gosport and Fareham's staunch defence with our driving Forwards causing problems for the Petersfield defence in return.
After 15 minutes (approx, I don't know, I was washing eyes), Petersfield opened the scoring with a converted try from a well worked line out.
The remainder of the half was pretty much controlled by Gos as they prevented Petersfield from spending too much time in their half. With about 10 minutes to go, Gos set up a mid field ruck. Ben Crees took the ball forward, off loading it in the tackle to Sam Gee and on to Ed Earl. Ed slipped the ball to James Hensman who, assisted by Max Plummer, powered through the defence into the 22. Two phases of pick and go before Max Williams flipped the ball left to Ed Earl who was on a charge for the line, only to be stopped and agonising foot short. But the ball was brought back for an earlier penalty. The tap was taken by Harvey Field and found its way to Alex Burnett who shimmied his way through four defenders before crashing over the line in the corner. The conversion was slotted beautifully between the sticks by Robert Ellis.
The was followed just 2 minutes later by Gosport and Fareham's second score. Ben Crees again sprinting forward before being brought to ground, Alex and Alec Hammond secured the ruck before Ben Smith took the ball back infield before sending it along the line to Robert Ellis. Rob managed to offload the ball back to Ben Smith who, slipping past two tackles, slid the ball over the line in the corner. The conversion from Rob falling just short against the wind.
Half Time - Petersfield 7 - 12 Gosport and Fareham

to be continued...